Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut left the International Space Station yesterday,
leaving a skeleton crew to maintain the outpost until replacements arrive later this month.

Outgoing station commander Pavel Vinogradov, NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy and Russian
cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin bid their crewmates goodbye and climbed aboard their Russian Soyuz
capsule to prepare for a 31/2-hour flight back to Earth after 166 days in orbit.

The Soyuz was expected to make a parachute landing in Kazakhstan at 10:58 p.m. EDT.

The station has been staffed by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since November
2000.